BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Bill No: |SB 379 |Hearing | 4/15/15 | | | |Date: | | |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------| |Author: |Jackson |Tax Levy: |No | |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------| |Version: |4/7/15 |Fiscal: |Yes | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Weinberger | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARDS AND LAND USE PLANNING Requires cities and counties to review and update their general plans' safety elements to address risks posed by climate change. Background and Existing Law Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for the housing elements, state law does not require counties and cities to regularly revise their general plans. Cities and counties' major land use decisions --- subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits --- must be consistent with their general plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a general plan's policies. To help local officials interpret these statutory requirements, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) publishes General Plan Guidelines. OPR's Guidelines recommend the information that local planners should collect, suggest goals, policies, and objectives that local general plans could adopt, and list a wide range of feasible implementation measures to carry out those local goals. OPR is expected to release updated General Plan Guidelines later in 2015. The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element's SB 379 (Jackson) 4/7/15 Page 2 of ? purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2007, the Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for flood hazards (AB 162, Wolk, 2007). Similarly, in 2012, the Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for fire risks on land classified as SRA and very high fire hazard severity zones (SB 1241, Kehoe, 2012). The Wolk and Kehoe bills require safety elements to contain: Specified information about flood hazards and fire hazards. Based on that information, a set of comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives to protect against unreasonable flood risks and fire risks. To carry out those goals, a set of feasible implementation measures. In recent years, local officials have started to focus more attention on the risks posed to communities throughout California by the potential effects of global climate change, including increased temperatures, sea level rise, a reduced winter snowpack, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent storm events. Some recent state climate change planning documents have suggested that local general plans should be amended to incorporate climate change adaptation and resilience policies. Proposed Law Senate Bill 379 requires cities and counties to review and update their safety elements to address climate adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county. Local officials must act the next time they revise their housing elements on or after January 1, 2017. SB 379 requires cities and counties to consider the Governor's Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines and expands the required contents of safety elements to include: A vulnerability assessment that identifies what risks climate change poses to the local jurisdiction and SB 379 (Jackson) 4/7/15 Page 3 of ? specified information about climate change risks, including: o Information from the web-based Cal-Adapt tool; o Information from the most recent version of the California Adaptation Planning Guide; o Information from local agencies on the types of assets, resources, and populations that will be sensitive to various climate change exposures; o Information from local agencies on their current ability to deal with the impacts of climate change; o Historical data on natural events/hazards, including locally prepared maps of areas subject to previous risk, areas that are vulnerable, and sites that have been repeatedly damaged; o Existing and planned development in identified at-risk areas, including structures, roads, utilities, and essential public facilities; and o Public agencies with responsibility for the protection of public health, safety, and the environment. Based on that information, a set of adaptation and resilience goals, policies, and objectives for the protection of the community from climate change risks identified in the vulnerability assessment. To carry out those goals, policies, and objectives, a set of feasible implementation measures, including: o Methods to avoid or minimize climate change impacts associated with new uses of land. o The relocation, when feasible, of new essential public facilities outside of at-risk areas, including hospitals and health care facilities, emergency shelters, emergency command centers, and SB 379 (Jackson) 4/7/15 Page 4 of ? emergency communications facilities, or identifying construction methods or other methods to minimize damage if these facilities are located in at-risk areas. o The designation of adequate infrastructure if a new development is located in an at-risk area, including safe access for emergency vehicles. o Guidelines for working cooperatively with relevant public agencies. To comply with SB 379's requirements, a city or county can update its safety element by attaching or making reference to a plan or document separate from the general plan that that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives and contains information required by the bill. State Revenue Impact No estimate. Comments 1. Purpose of the bill . Comprehensive land use planning serves two purposes. First, it helps public officials avoid problems when they make decisions about the future. Second, it helps public officials solve past problems. The Legislature promoted both of those purposes in 2007 and 2012 when it increased the local planning requirements for flood and fire hazards. Legislators required local general plans' safety elements to present information, set goals and policies based on that information, and come up with feasible measures to carry out those goals and policies. That three-part approach helps city councils and county supervisors make better land use decisions that avoid or minimize the risks of flooding and fires. SB 379 applies the same three-part approach to the risks associated with climate change. California's 2009 Climate Adaptation Strategy recommends that "communities with General Plans and Local Coastal Plans should begin, when possible, to amend their SB 379 (Jackson) 4/7/15 Page 5 of ? plans to assess climate change impacts, identify areas most vulnerable to these impacts, and develop reasonable and rational risk reduction strategies." Using the accepted three-part approach to land use planning, SB 379 will help local officials make better land use decisions in anticipation of climate change's impacts. 2. Who pays ? The Legislature first required cities and counties to adopt general plans in 1937 (AB 722, Weber, 1937). Over the last 70 years, legislators have insisted on increasingly detailed local plans. The recent trend has been to require general plans to pay more attention to specialized topics: San Joaquin Valley's air quality (AB 170, Reyes, 2003), wildland fires (AB 3065, Kehoe, 2004, and AB 1241, Kehoe, 2012), tribal cultural places (SB 18, Burton, 2004), military operating areas (SB 926, Knight, 2004), and flood hazards (AB 162, Wolk, 2007). When land use problems hit the headlines, the Legislature imposes new planning chores on cities and counties. But, California doesn't invest State General Fund money in long-range, comprehensive, local planning. The burden of funding these new state mandated local programs falls on local general funds and on the property owners who apply for development permits. SB 379 is another well-intentioned, but unfunded, state mandated local program. 3. Other planning documents . General plans' safety elements are not the only planning documents that can play a role in promoting climate change resilience and adaptability in local communities. Many communities prepare hazard mitigation plans pursuant to requirements specified in federal law. Other communities have added a separate climate change element into their general plan documents. SB 379 allows a safety element to incorporate, by reference, other planning documents that fulfill the same purposes specified by the bill. Legislators may also wish to consider whether climate change resilience and adaptation should be incorporated into other general plan elements, like the conservation element or land use element. 4. The great unknown . Land use planning stakeholders throughout California are anxiously awaiting the Governor's Office of Planning and Research's updated general plan guidelines. The update that is expected to be released later this year will likely contain extensive new advice for incorporating climate change considerations into local SB 379 (Jackson) 4/7/15 Page 6 of ? governments' land use planning efforts. SB 379 specifically requires local governments to consider OPR's guidelines when amending their safety elements. But, legislators may wish to consider whether SB 379's provisions will need to be amended after the updated guidelines are released to ensure that the bill's provisions are consistent with OPR's document. 5. Double-referred . The Senate Rules Committee has ordered a double-referral of SB 379 --- first to the Senate Governance & Finance Committee which has policy jurisdiction over the land use statutes, and then to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. Support and Opposition (4/9/15) Support : Audubon California; California League of Conservation Voters; Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation; Nature Conservancy. Opposition : Unknown. -- END --